"You do realize it's sort of your fault, actually?" Blaise smirked. "If it wasn't for your meddling, there would be no council to speak of, and you wouldn't be in this precarious position," he added.

"I do," Hadrian sighed. "But honestly, even knowing that people are generally fickle, I'd never have expected them to turn on me so quickly; I was one of the most liked snakes in the castle for a few years now. It took only one evening for all of them to decide that I'm worse than dirt," he said, somewhat bitterly. It wasn't that he cared much about what public thought about him; it was more about the sheer ridiculousness of this situation that edged him.

The two boys were currently sitting in Hadrian's room, having just returned from Potions' class. Snape was especially vicious today. Knowing that the boy could no longer rely on his immunity, he almost immediately slapped him with detention, ostensibly for 'rude behaviour', despite Hadrian sitting silently at his desk waiting for instructions. Fortunately, he didn't lose any points, but that was only because Snape didn't want to endanger his own house's standing for the Cup.

On their way back, he was once again targeted. This time, however, he wasn't inactive; seeing colourful spells coming his way he immediately raised his shield causing them to harmlessly go sideways. As soon as they weren't dangerous anymore, he dropped the shield and looked around, just in time to see two boys clad in yellow trimmed robes run away. He almost gave chase, but then thought better of it; he would wait, eventually an opportunity would present itself, and he would swiftly deal with them once and for all.

#^#

The class has been in the middle of Transfiguration, when the door opened and in walked a young Gryffindor boy.

"Mr. Creevey, what can I help you with?" Professor McGonagall looked sternly at her young charge; she didn't appreciate being intruded in the middle of a lesson.

"Professor, I've been sent to collect Hadrian Potter! There is some kind of ceremony, you know, for champions, and he is required to attend," he quickly explained in one breath.

"I see," the older professor's brows twitched. "In that case, Mr. Potter, you can go, but I expect you to self-study today's topic, it wouldn't do for a... champion... to slack off," she sniffed.

Without acknowledging her attitude, Hadrian casually stood up and left the classroom.

"So what exactly is this ceremony?" He asked the younger boy once they were alone in the corridor.

"Oh, I'm not sure," he said. "It has something to do with wands since I saw Ollivander there and there will probably be some interview as journalists were there as well," he revealed.

"Ah, must be the weighing of wands," Hadrian mused aloud. "Well, in that case I think I'll just skip it," he decided, instantly turning around. He wasn't quick enough, however, as they were almost there, and so he was noticed by several people who quickly waved him on.

"Mister Potter, what a pleasure that is! I believe you must have heard about me, Rita Skeeter, I work for the Daily Prophet. What would you say about a quick interview?" She asked, with a glint in her eye. Before the boy had a chance to give her an answer, she caught him and tried to take him somewhere.

"Don't touch me please," Hadrian shook her off. "I will consider giving an interview sometime soon; if that happens, you will be first on my list to contact, but for now please, leave me alone," he said with a hint of steel in his voice.

"Oh very well, Hadrian, I'll wait," Rita pouted. "Just make sure it's not for too long, my quill sometimes gets... excitable," she advised.

He was of half mind to leave the place right then, but then thought better of it. If he did so, they wouldn't know that he refused to participate in this activity, and would consequently probably search for him. No, it was better to stay, wait and tell them so personally.

"Excuse me," he said loudly once they were all assembled in the class and about to start. "I just wanted to tell you that I refuse to participate in this ceremony, as it is not mandatory. I'll be leaving now. Thank you."

"Surely you can stay and have your wand checked by the expert?" Dumbledore tried to reason with him. "It stands to a reason that you will need your wand in the best condition available for the tasks..." he trailed, looking at him expectantly.

"It's not necessary," Hadrian declined.

"Mister Potter, while true that it's not mandatory, it has been tradition in all past tournaments, and it is expected of all champions to..." tried Crouch in a strict voice, but he was quickly cut off by Hadrian.

"You will find, Mister Crouch, that I don't care all that much for some silly tournament's traditions. Have a good day," he said and left.

He has just passed the first corner down the corridor, when somehow he was jumped on - figuratively speaking this time - by Rita Skeeter.

"Hadrian, I was willing to wait, but after this little outburst there I feel we have to have this interview now," she said smiling.

"I thought I was quite clear on this," Hadrian replied, irritated. "I will contact you when the proper time comes."

"Think about it," she urged him. "We wouldn't want for my excitable quill to write something that you wouldn't be very happy about now, would we?"

"Miss Skeeter, are you trying to blackmail me?" the Potter heir asked incredulously, to which Rita's smile turned slightly wicked.

"Blackmail is such a dirty word, I prefer... to give incentives."

Suddenly, Hadrian saw red. He didn't know how or why, but the next time he could think clearly was in the Chamber of Secrets, standing with his wand aiming at the bound and unconscious Rita Skeeter. He blinked and blinked again.

What the fuck?

He had no recollection of kidnapping the vulture of a woman. Worse, he had no memory of the whole event, and he could not think of any reason whatsoever why he would act so rashly. This was troubling, very much so. He now had a very big problem on his hands, as he had to decide what to do with his victim. He decided to ponder this later, now he needed to calm down and organize his thoughts. To do so, he decided to visit his mindscape. Just to be sure however, he quickly cast the most powerful ward known to him around the Chamber; it wouldn't do to be discovered by Granger.

Sitting down, he was already counting down from one hundred to zero; one of the simplest methods of relaxation. Normally, he would have used something a little faster, but now he felt that an extra time spending on calming down his inner turmoil was called for.

Two... One... Hadrian opened his eyes. He no longer was in the Chamber. Instead, he was sitting on a vast meadow with a small stream merrily murmuring nearby. The boy looked around, trying to ascertain if there was anything wrong here. It was commonly accepted theory that the mindscape of Occlumency practitioners resembled state their souls were in. Yet here, in his mindscape there didn't seem to be anything troubling... there! Hadrian narrowed his eyes. Far away, in a nearly invisible forest on the horizon, something dark and out of place could be seen, quickly retreating deeper into the woods. With a mere thought, Hadrian appeared right next to the forest to investigate it. As he approached however, he found out that the closer he was, the more uncomfortable he felt. Quickly, he realized that this feeling of wrongness originated from his head... from his scar. He tried pressing on, but eventually the uncomfortable feeling turned to pain, and he decided to let go and do some research before coming back.

Never before had he given much thought to his scar; he accepted it as something always present, a part of him. It never acted out, it never gave any other symptoms or signs that it might be something more. But now... now it was obvious, that his scar wasn't just a scar; the question was, what was it then?

===#^#===

To say that Hadrian was in a bad mood when walking to a detention with Snape would be an understatement of the century. He has just finished obliviating Rita and setting her free, and now he hurried to the dungeons. He was positive that the petty man of a teacher would do his very best to get back at him. He probably wouldn't resort to violence, but verbal abuse would most assuredly be plenty. The only bright ray was the allotted time; Snape wouldn't be able to torment him for more than an hour, at least on that day. His musings were interrupted, when from behind a corner two Hufflepuff seven years' emerged.

"It's not very wise, walking alone in your situation," the first said seriously.

"Yes, after all something might happen to our champion, and we wouldn't want this now, would we?" the second guy taunted, drawing his wand in a slow, exaggerated manner.

"Oh wait," the first said, as if he just realised something, "but that's not a champion. It's a usurper!"

"Usurper? Oh my, how could this happen in this fine institution? Hey, I've got an idea! We should..." whatever he was going to say was interrupted by, not at all impressed, Hadrian.

"You wouldn't know the difference between a headache and an idea Stewart," he drawled, already preparing to draw his wand. "Now go away, I have places to be, preferably somewhere without you two spoiling the air with your rubbish."

"Why you little piece of shit," the closer boy, Stewart, reddened. "We only wanted to teach you a lesson on school loyalty, but I think you will benefit from something extra," he growled, advancing in - what he thought - a threatening manner.

"Listen, you two, I don't have time for this. Could you perhaps choose a better time? Some time tomorrow evening maybe?" Hadrian said dismissively, inwardly smirking. Here an occasion that he was waiting for presented itself.

"You are so full of yourself Potter, it's disgusting. Do you really think you can take the two of us? You, a mere fourth year? And don't you underestimate us, we are top of our class," the other, as yet unnamed boy, warned.

"You are impossible to underestimate," Hadrian irked them further, paying close attention to their movements. It seemed they wanted to attack him from two sides, which meant that he would have to move swiftly to counteract their advancement. Indeed, that was precisely what they went for; it seemed his last remark was too much.

He didn't have to duck, however, as the duo chose to use a barrage of disarming jinxes, which he simply sidestepped as they were all aimed in the same direction, completely disregarding any possibility of movement on his part.

My turn, he smirked.

Two underpowered banishing spells followed with stunners were all it took to down top of their class. Hadrian quickly glanced up and down the corridor if they were still alone. Satisfied, he aimed his wand, and used some advanced transfiguration on both of them. Quickly casting tempus he saw that he would be right on time for his detention, save for any other unplanned stops. Walking away he left two very unconscious, and very yellow boys, now with uncanny resemblance to badgers, proudly wearing badges saying, 'I got fucked by Diggory and it was awesome!'.

That should teach Puffs not to fuck with me.

The detention was every bit as unpleasant as he imagined. Snape made him clean the floor with the smallest brush available, without any magic, all the while making snide remarks and insulting him openly. Hadrian decided not to do anything... he would get back at him, eventually. It was wiser to wait and see what the man had in store for him.

The fate that befall on two Hufflepuff boys seemed to cause a desirable effect for Hadrian. Once it became public knowledge, pretty much all attacks and pranks stopped immediately. While nobody could present proof that it was him, as the seventh years declined to incriminate themselves in the process, it was what most students thought.

===#^#===

"Harry, can I talk with vous?" Fleur Delacour intercepted him before he could enter the Great Hall for dinner. Looking curiously at the beautiful girl, he waved his friends to show them he was fine and to go on. He noticed a scowl marry Daphne's face, but he decided not to linger on this for too long.

"Depends. Do you think you can remember that my name is Hadrian?" Harry smirked.

"Oh," she reddened. "I'm sorry. Of course, Hadrian. Can we go outside?"

"Fine," he agreed. "After you," he smirked, as it gave him a very good view of her ass...ets. They quickly left the castle. Once they were sufficiently far from any prying ears, Fleur cast a privacy ward around them; Hadrian added his own localized climate control ward.

"Good idea," she looked at him appraisingly. "Hadrian, I wanted to say that I am sorry. I've had time to cool off, and I think I was very rude. I don't know if you did enter yourself or not, and honestly I don't care. You are obviously at a disadvantage, and you are a good... I mean, ambitious and obviously powerful, for your age... I don't want anything to happen to you," she rambled, with her cheeks flushed.

"Apology accepted," he easily allowed. He could tell that she had some ulterior motive, but for now it cost him nothing to be polite.

"Thank you," the part-veela said with an obvious relief. "Do you know anything about the first task?"

"I do," he said, and noticed curiously that her face fell. "I know that I have no intention of being a part of it," he elaborated, and she looked up hopefully.

"If you say so. In that case let me tell you... I mean... I probably shouldn't, you are my rival after all... but I..."

"Easy, Fleur," Hadrian smiled gently, to which she huffed.

"Oh very well. Hadrian, the first task is a dragon. I don't know much more about it, if we are to fight it or do something else... But I thought you should know."

"A dragon," Hadrian repeated numbly… A dragon.

"Yes..."

"Thank you, Fleur," he eventually smiled at the girl. "I'll make sure to remember your help. I need to go if I want to make it to the dinner, so if there is nothing else...?"

"Yes yes, oui. Go, I must go as well. I hope we can meet again, Hadrian. Bye," she said dispelling the wards and quickly leaving.

Hook, line and... Thought Fleur triumphantly. She was sure that her shy girl act managed to fool Hadrian into thinking that she was somehow into him. There was nothing to lose telling him about the dragons. As far as she knew, both Diggory and Krum have already known that, and somehow she doubted that the youngest of them would pose much of a challenge anyway. Having him owe her a favour, on the other hand, and possibly even falling for her might be the difference between winning and losing the Tournament.

Weird girl, Hadrian thought. Insanely hot, but weird... Dragons, huh. Good thing I've already decided not to compete. I wonder what's the main course today?

===#^#===

Triwizard Romance?

By Rita Skeeter

The choosing of a national hero, Harry Potter, as a fourth champion in the Triwizard Tournament came as a shock to all of us. While the investigation is still in progress, the preliminary findings seem to suggest that the fault lies at hands of the school's headmaster, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, who was responsible for warding the Goblet of Fire against anyone under the age of seventeen.

It seems however, that Harry Potter decided to use all the opportunities presented by the event to his own satisfaction. It has come to this reporter's attention, that several students saw the boy-who-lived meeting secretly with Beauxbatons Academy champion, breathtakingly beautiful quarter-veela Fleur Delacour. What the pair has been discussing remains a mystery, as they were careful enough to put a silencing spells in place. It is worth noting though, that - as several students that this reporter has interviewed claimed - Mister Potter seems to be already romantically involved with his fellow classmate, Pansy Parkinson of Slytherin. Does this mean that our young hero is leading a less than exemplary life? The mystery deepens, as there are also rumours that he might be involved with Daphne Greengrass, heiress apparent of the house Greengrass, who...

Hadrian's eyes widened. This was probably the first time he has been written in a newspaper about in such a negative light. He didn't like the conclusion, especially as the article promised a follow-up story. He immediately procured a piece of parchment and began writing letter to Adrian Bowles.

===#^#===

"Dear members of this fine body," Hermione started her speech, shooting smug looks at Hadrian. "I'm here before you today to propose, once again, that we ban usage of a disgusting word 'mudblood'. I have been thinking very hard on the arguments raised in this chamber previously, and I came to believe that I have a solution that will satisfy all of you. If the motion passes, it will be illegal to use any derogatory terms based on unchangeable personal traits, aimed at any other person. Such a broad definition will make sure that no slurs are being used, and that the shameful word 'mudblood' will cease to exist. The punishment for violating this new rule would be left to the teachers' and prefects' discretion. Obviously I am more than ready to answer any and all of your questions. Thank you."

Hadrian sighed. He could see where this was going; now every harmful law repealed thanks to his intervention would probably be brought up again, in hopes that the council would disregard his arguments this time. It was actually a very real possibility; the attempt at ostracising him, and then a subsequent removal of his immunity were proof enough that he fell from representatives' collective grace. He didn't even bother speaking up as he knew, that he would be at best ignored. Instead, he asked Daphne to do so, but...

"I thank you very much, representative Greengrass, for your opinion. Let's be honest, we all know that you are now speaking for the disgraced Hadrian Potter, so there really is no need to discuss the points you raised," Granger dismissed Daphne's speech completely. "I believe it is pointless to discuss it any further, wouldn't you agree, chairman Diggory?" she smiled brightly at the boy who, in turn, smiled back.

"Indeed, I agree. We have been pretty much through all possible arguments the last time you tried to have your motion passed, so I don't think it necessary to ponder this for much longer. I suggest we recess for five minutes, and then we vote."

"I must object chairman Diggory, why should we be deprived of our statutory rights? Actually it is not only our right, but a duty, to discuss any laws proposed here thoroughly! And what representative Granger suggested is fundamentally different from her previous proposal," stated Daphne hotly.

"Objection overruled representative Greengrass. We will reassemble here in five minutes, and then we vote."

By now, Draco had enough.

"Diggory, you have no right! You can't just arbitrarily decide that there will be no discussion, it is...absolutely..." but then he deflated, seeing that Diggory has already left the hall, and many more followed his suit. "Fucking unbelievable," he exclaimed exasperated, throwing his hands in the air.

"If I didn't know you any better, Draco, I'd have thought you have lost your cool for a second there," Daphne teased him shortly after, to which Draco flushed, realizing just how rash his behaviour was.

"Worthy of a Gryffindor," seconded Hadrian, smiling.

"Oh shut it. It's just shocking, the way Diggory stomped on the bylaws," the blond boy grumbled. "The question is, do we do anything?"

"There is nothing we can do long-term," Hadrian shrugged. "But we can make their lives slightly harder, as well as postpone adopting this aberration of a law. To make this happen..."

By the time the Slytherins were done scheming, other representatives were coming back, and in no time the session was again called to order.

"We will now vote," announced Cedric. "Please touch... yes, representative Greengrass?" he asked vexed.

"I'd like to formally submit a request for a recess till at least next week, or till such time as we can invite Mr. Bowles to provide us with legal council, because it seems to me that you are not conducting this meeting in a proper and lawful manner," Daphne said, her ice queen persona shining.

"Rejected, we will vote now," Diggory announced grandly, with a benign smile, not unlike Dumbledore's patented smiles. "You know the drill. Please touch... yes, representative Malfoy? This is the last time I allow any speeches, requests or such before the vote," he warned.

"Chairman Diggory and honoured representatives, the manner in which today's session is being held is lamentable, all thanks to our chairman. I believe this is one of those cases that calls for a vote of no confidence, which is precisely what I'm invoking now. Thank you," he finished and sat down, with a smirk.

Chaos descended over the hall, but Diggory was quick to regain control with a few loud bangs.

"Representative Malfoy, I doubt that is necessary. I won't allow it, it's clear as day that your only intention is to obstruct today's proceedings," he snarled. "We will vote," he declared stubbornly.

"I don't think so, Mr. Diggory," came a new voice. Those that turned around quickly noticed that it was Professor Quirrell, who was fetched by Hadrian. "I have been provided with this body's charter, which is part of Hogwarts' by-laws, and there is a very specific procedure in case of a neque fiduciam vote, which prohibits the current session from going on. It is my understanding that you are now required to announce recess for no less than two weeks, during which time an interim chairman will be responsible for any and all meetings that might be necessary."

"Professor Quirrell, are you absolutely sure that we can't have a vote now?" Cedric gritted his teeth.

"Positive. It's not my place to say so, however I dare say this meeting has come to an end. An interim chairman is to be chosen by the Headmaster within two days." the man said, looking expectantly at Diggory, who by now was red, be that from anger or embarrassment.

"Very well. This session is concluded, we will convene as soon as possible. Thank you all," he said, looking furiously at the smug heir Malfoy as he said that.

"Well, that was fun, wasn't it?" Malfoy grinned.

"Hardly," Daphne disagreed. "I'm actually quite shaken. Never would I expect him to act like this," she shook his head.

"Seems like this useless tournament might be, actually, useful. We learned about Diggory's true face..." Hadrian mused. "Anyway guys, I need to let off some steam. You go on, I'll join you in an hour or two," he announced, intending to go to the Chamber for some training.

#^#

Hadrian barely set up some dummies, when a very unwelcome presence has manifested itself.

"Well, if it isn't the school pariah," Hermione Granger jibbed.

"What the hell do you want?" Hadrian asked.

"Why so rude, Hadrian? It seems we both had the same idea to let off some steam," she raised her brow. "This place is huge, surely you can share?"

"Fuck off," he muttered. "If it wasn't for the fact that your disappearance now would be connected with me, I'd dispatch you about right now," he said tiredly.

"Pretty big words for someone who can't even fend off some harmless corridor pranks," she mocked him, but frowned when she saw him smirk.

"Your information is quite old it seems. You see," he started circling her. "Those funny guys that pranked me... well... they won't do so again. Ever," his eyes seemed to darken slightly. "Yesterday I was too damn tired to care, but today... today is not yesterday," he stated calmly, firing his first volley of spells at Hermione, who was visibly caught by surprise. It seemed that she didn't learn all that much after their previous duel, as she still relied on shields and stationary tactics, which was even more useless here than it was on a camp field. There, Hadrian had at least somewhat restricted movements because of bushes, but in the Chamber, unless she managed to get close to the columns, he could circle her as he pleased.

And he did, all the while firing jinxes, hexes and curses and this time, he wasn't holding himself either, freely bombarding her with various cutters, exploding hexes and multiple other spells, many of which could easily be classified as dark magic. Hermione was doing all she could, pumping as much magic to her shield as she could manage, but in the end it just wasn't enough, and when the next volley hit her shield, it simply flickered out of existence. Simultaneously, she got hit with a borderline dark cutting curse to the arm and a powerful banishing hex that sent her flying straight to the wall. The sound of collision was sickening, if Hadrian were to be honest, but he didn't care. He quickly approached her to check if her vital signs were present. To his great surprise they were, and the girl was in much better shape than he expected, because as soon as he was close to her, she managed to aim her wand and fire a spell. This was all she could muster in her condition, and almost immediately after she fell unconscious. Her spell however hit true, and so with a thump a second body joined her on the floor.

#^#

The Boy Who Built A Harem

by Rita Skeeter

Not even a week has passed since my previous article speculating about Hadrian Potter's love life in lieu of him becoming a Triwizard Tournament Champion. For those of our readers who missed, let me quickly recap what we know so far...

Hadrian's eye twitched.

...an even more shocking development has been uncovered. This reporter managed to obtain, from a reliable source close to Mr. Potter himself, an account of his suspicious disappearance for a night at the exact same time as a young muggleborn fourth-year girl from Gryffindor, Hermione Granger, went missing as well. Curiously, it is said that the both of them returned to their respective dorms roughly at the same time, looking dishevelled, while apparently they both vehemently denied having an affair...

Hadrian felt his mood darken. He just knew his flash duel with Granger and a subsequent night spent together being unconscious would have repercussions. Granted, he has already received a detention from Snape, but here it was, a slanderous article again.

...raises severe red flags and questions about the ability of Hogwarts' staff to keep their young charges safe and out of trouble...

He noticed that most of the Hall's occupants were looking at him. Which was understandable, he decided after a moment, as Granger decided not to show up.

...with Granger being the fourth member of this new harem, for that seems to be exactly this...

He decided to do his very best not to show any emotion at all. It wouldn't do for people to believe he was somehow affected as it could make him look weak, which he couldn't afford at this time.

...with two witches being heiress to noble houses, and one an international guest, begs the question: what if his frivolous behaviour causes international incident, or even a domestic one? With two powerful lords possibly involved...

Yes. This would make his life easier, he thought sarcastically. The last thing he needed was to be put on a receiving end of Lords Greengrass and Parkinson's wands. Oh, how he wished he didn't let Rita go.

...Just how much is too much? I will keep you updated as soon as a new information is revealed.

This is certainly too much; time to call the cavalry.

===#^#===

"Good afternoon," Adrian Bowles walked into Daily Prophet Editor in Chief's office without even acknowledging the poor secretary. "We haven't got an appointment, but I won't take you long. Please, have a seat," he waved his hand when he saw the editor stand up. "My name is Adrian Bowles, and I am Mister Potter's attorney. I have read your most recent article and felt compelled to visit you," he explained.

"Mister Bowles, I fear that you've wasted your time; there is nothing I want to talk with you about," the editor, Barnabas Cuffe, said strongly. He was no stranger to people coming in and demanding various things from him, and he knew very well how to deal with them. "I'd appreciate it if you showed yourself out, preferably now."

"That won't be necessary, Mister Cuffe," Adrian parred. "I won't take long. Here," he stated, showing a piece of parchment, "is a formal lawsuit for libel. And here," - another piece of parchment - "are our exact demands, along with points that we wish to see in a retraction you are going to print at most at the end of the week. You accept our terms, the lawsuit goes to the bin. You don't, the lawsuit gets filed with the Wizengamot."

"Do you honestly believe that you are the first lawyer to threaten me?" Barnabas smiled condescendingly. "I'll read those papers, maybe even some time this week, but no promises. Were I you, however, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for results, as you might just asphoxycate. Now, I believe we are done here. Have a good day, Mister Bowles."

"Pleasure," Adrian stood, and promptly left the building, already formulating plans on how best to go about acquiring support for the lawsuit.

===#^#===

Lord Black,

I am very happy that you are recovering fast. I'm afraid, however, that I won't be able to meet with you on the date and place you have proposed.

Wishing you all the best,

Hadrian J. Potter

Heir Potter

===#^#===

"What if they make you compete?" fretted Daphne. It was finally the day of the first task, and she was walking Hadrian to the tent, where the champions were supposed to learn about the challenge.

"They can't," came the confident reply. "We've been through this, Daphne. The organizers are bound by the magical contract, and making me compete, a person that isn't bound, would go directly against it. They won't risk it," he shrugged, totally unconcerned.

"If you say so," the blond girl said, clearly not convinced. "Just promise that you won't budge, even if they threaten you or whatever," she said in a pleading tone of voice, which caused Hadrian to stop.

"You really are worried, aren't you?" He looked at her appraisingly. "Listen, I meant what I said. There is no way in heaven or hell I'm going to compete, so don't worry about this. I promise, I won't even look at the dragon." This seemed to calm the girl down, enough to let go of him. He smiled at her, hugged her quickly when he heard Bagman's calling for him, and disappeared in the tent, leaving nervous Ice Queen outside.

#^#

"As you've been told previously, the first task is supposed to test your daring in the face of the unknown. To that end, you have not been told what will it entail. Well, now it's the time! You will each pick a specimen from this pouch. Miss Delacour, ladies first!" Ludo Bagman thrust a small leather bag in Fleur's direction. She put her hand in, and just a second later she withdrew a miniature Common Welsh Green. She nodded, rather happy, and allowed Cedric to pick one for himself. Hadrian didn't really pay any attention to what other two boys got, but he was immensely relieved that he decided to forego the task when he saw that he was supposed to face the fearsome Hungarian Horntail, one of the most ferocious dragon breed in the world.

It was to the complete bafflement of Fleur and Krum that he decided to pass the time reading a book. Only sporadically would they hear anything at all from the outside; the tent has been spelled to be mostly sound-proof, to allow the champions peace and quiet. Eventually, it was only him inside. Suddenly perking up, Hadrian stood up and began inspecting the walls of the tent. He quickly discerned that they were spelled impenetrable from one side. The question was if it was achieved with a charm, which could easily be overridden, or a ward, that would need breaking, thus alerting the caster. After a short deliberation, he began waving his wand, tracing complicated patterns in the air. Finally, he seemed satisfied; wasting no time he cast 'Finito', followed with a localized transparency charm and just like that he now had a vision and audio, precisely in time to see Krum beginning to cast various curses and hexes at the beast.

His tactic was unimaginative, but certainly flashy; many spells that he cast were very impressive, causing loud bangs aimed to distract the dragon, explosions, fire whips, ice missiles and so on. It was obvious that his tactic depended on overwhelming his opponent. It seemed to be working, too - the dragon was growing progressively more and more agitated, while being completely unable to switch to offence. Which was a good thing for Krum, Hadrian thought, as it seemed that the boy had a very stationary fighting style, and any sufficiently powerful fire blast would scorch him to crisp.

Finally, seeing his opening, Viktor Krum decided to go for a kill - literally. He shouted two dreaded words of an unforgivable, causing the stadium to collectively inhale sharply. To some it seemed as if the green light was going in slow motion, but in reality it took less than three seconds to find its target. The majestic creature suddenly stilled, and simply crumbled to the ground. Not waiting for (a very unlikely) applause, Krum advanced on the nest, collected his egg and left the stadium.

Hadrian looked at the jury's booth. Karkaroff slightly smirked, Madame Maxime remained impassive, while Dumbledore looked grave. Crouch gritted his teeth, but it was Ludo Bagman who had the most visible reaction, as he was rendered speechless, gaping with his mouth wide open at the place where the international Quidditch star was last seen. Eventually, the stadium seemed to snap out of the shock, and it was moment that Hadrian chose to dispel his charm, waiting for the cannon blast.

As soon as he heard it, he left the tent. Instead of walking straight to the arena, as most people expected him to, he turned to his right, walking towards the judges. The stadium attentively observed his movements, some students had already started laughing at him, somewhat correctly, if unknowingly, assuming he chickened out and wanted to quit.

"What is the meaning of this? The arena is over there," Barty Crouch said stiffly as soon as Hadrian approached.

"I don't care. I hereby forego this task." Hadrian smirked.

"What do you mean? You can't just forego the task, you will lose your magic if you don't compete," Crouch said outraged.

"You will soon find, Mr. Crouch," Hadrian said, already turning away from the judges, "that I won't lose anything. Have a good day and good bye," the boy-who-got-shunned stated, and indeed left the stadium, that was now completely silent, filled with many disbelieving sets of eyes.

A/N: Unfortunately, with this chapter, I leave you all for a few weeks. There probably won't be any update in August, as I'm now very busy: I'm finishing the process of self-publishing my first book. The reason I'm busy? Well, when I say 'self-publish', I mean it - I do everything, setting up a webpage with payment processing, editing and marketing included :-)

(that's also, by the way, the reason why this chapter is so late - I've had it almost finished for over two weeks now, but had no time to lay the finishing touches.)

Thanks to my beta, Haphne24!